Cubnapping Coriander
5/23/2007
10:01 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (48% full).
It is currently 21:58 Pacific Time on Wed May 23 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is partially cloudy. The temperature is 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius). The wind is calm today. The barometric pressure reading is 30.07 and steady, and the relative humidity is 64 percent. The dewpoint is 44 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)
Highway 22, Near the Forest
Formerly a mostly forested area cut through by the desolate Highway 22 and Sunrise Road, this area is currently being developed and turned into a nice-looking series of soon-to-be suburbs. One suburb has already gone up with about 40 houses that--while similar in design--have enough differences to not make them look like they came from the same cookie cutter. The grass in the yards is still trying to establish itself and is sometimes patchy, but it'll look great by next year. It actually looks like a nice place to come live if you've got a middle-class lifestyle, a good job (or two), and kids. The new houses probably fall in the $150,000 to $200,000 range and a few still bear "FOR SALE" signs. Further to the north, flanking both sides of Sunrise Road, swaths of forest have been cleared away for new subdivisions in various stages of clearing and construction.
To the east, looming up behind the suburbs, lies a vast forest of evergreens that gives the new suburbs a highly-desired rural feel. Highway 22 goes west towards the township of Kent Crossing, but also makes a southerly turn towards the entrances to the Lake Arthur Recreational Area and the camping, hiking, and nature center for Wolf Woods National Park. Sunrise Road branches off of Highway 22 here and stretchs out north into the wooded suburb development areas.
Contents:
Coriander
Stacey
Obvious exits:
Forest North South West
The new developments around Highway Twenty-Two are the site of more than just construction this evening. In the cleared space of what once was forest, sits a group of protestors, numbered around twenty, as if guarding what's left of the trees. It would seem that most of them have been in this same spot for a long while, given the picnic baskets and the tired faces on the younger of the crowd. Currently, the protestors sit in a circle, holding hands and singing 'Blowing in the Wind'.
It doesn't matter where Kenneth heard of the local Green protest going on, just that he's heard it. As such, the young Shadow Lord philodox observes the small gathering from a good distance away. He's not alone either, having come with Stacey to play observer. The fact that there are young faces amongst the old doesn't escape him. "This is what hundreds, thousands of men and women have died for," he comments sourly, the intended target of his nastiness purposefully unclear.
Having taken an interest in the proceedings when she heard of them from Kenneth, Stace observes the protesters from her spot beside the Philodox, standing on her toes occasionally to see better. "They die for lots of things," she notes back, then tilts her head. "Think it'll do any good?"
An official does approach the group from the development offices, apparently unable to ignore the group any longer. A man from the protesters stands as well, to converse with him. The singing from the others muffles the conversation, but key words like 'trespassing' and 'police' do stand out. While the protest spokesman seems to be handling it just fine, a young girl pops up from her seat to cross over, too. Her additions to the conversation, not so mild. Some call it passion, but in truth, it can only be described as anger at the idea that this man dare to threaten them with arrest. Or that's what can be gathered from the intelligible bits of her ranting.
Kenneth has to shake his head as he watches the group continue to sing. Not until the official moves in does the halfmoon's interest level out from its steady drop and climb even more when one young protestor stands. "It'll start getting good when they chain themselves to the trees," he replies to Stacey's question. Then the young Shadow Lord himself calls upon his gift of eavesdropping.
Stacey lifts her brows. "Chain themselves to trees? Well, if it works... Does it?" She glances up at the Lord before turning her attention back to the scene, her own interest growing as the young girl joins the discussion. "Bit of anger there, eh? Not that I feel any different," she add dryly, her gaze sweeping the area, as though considering what scale of an attack it'd take to bring the construction to a halt.
"You've been cutting down the forest, the /forest/! Don't you /get/ what you're /doing/ to the Earth?" Kenneth's eavesdropping picking up on the conversation better. The spokesman places a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Coriander, nothing was very solved with harsh words." Coriander turns to grimace at the man, folding her arms across her chest, "And nothing was made of peaceful demonstrations but martyrs." Both the men seem taken back by that comment, and Coriander just lets out a heavy, overdramatic sigh and stalks off, through the protest circle and into the forest they're trying to protect.
"It's just the moon," Kenneth retorts automatically with a grunt and twist to crack his neckbones. He pauses to watch the girl stomp off into the forest, and then tacks on belatedly, "Oh, you mean the girl. At this rate, she's going to end up in Wildfire's territory." Glancing down to his ahroun companion, Kenneth gives Stacey a look. One that queries in a most blaise manner, 'Should we stop her?'
Stacey follows the girl's movement curiously as she moves toward the woods, and then she, after giving a shrug and nod to Kenneth, starts to walk around the area, aiming to intercept the girl's path within the woods. "Wouldn't hurt to get more info on what's goin' on, ya think?" she murmurs to the boy as she walks.
Coriander isn't hard to interrupt, her angered mutters easier to hear now that she's away from the singing. Not to mention the stomping. And her self-appointed 'time out' hasn't seemed to do much for her temper, although her muttering does seem to have shifted subjects, "Shouldn't have done that. Idiot."
Kenneth shrugs his shoulders, but he trails after the ahroun not a pace behind. He's still listening in on things, but appears uninterested in the girl's self rantings. "She doesn't seem like much," he assesses quietly to the ahroun.
Stacey tilts her head. "Well, now, ya never know. But it doesn't take much to have more information than us in more city-like matters, does it?" she murmurs back. After trailing the girl another few paces, she calls out, "Hello, there!" she calls, stepping more into the open as she draws near. "Lot of activity back there," she adds, pointing a thumb back behind them. "You know anythin' about that gathering?"
Spinning around at the sudden voice, Coriander takes a step backward, but does nod to the girl's words. "The city is trying to turn this area into /pavement/ when it should be /nature/. We were... we are holding a protest against them building any further."
Kenneth has a gander at the girl before him. Truth be told, the Shadow Lord isn't exactly as presentable as he once was. The shirt and black pants carry with them some signs of wear and tear, his sweater in need of some patching up and his hair. He holds himself in a rather official manner much like the man in the suit who had come to shoo off the nature loving protestors. Only, this older teen looks more wild than his physical appearance and posture portrays. "A little late, don't you think?"
Stacey no doubt looks about as odd as Kenneth, definitely with that wildness to her, yet with a commanding presence that calls the youth of her looks into question. "Never really too late to try to make a difference..." she says, frowning as she glances back toward that area. "Don't think the protest will work? Why'd ya leave?"
"Don't say that! It isn't!" Coriander's protest echoing Stacey's words. She looks back and forth between them, a nervous gesture. "Larry, that's my father, he always says to walk away when you stay getting too angry. To cool down. But I think," she pauses, looking between them again, "I think I should be getting back."
"Walk away? What kind of protestor are you? Maybe it's that you can't explain the details of what you /supposedly/ believe in," Kenneth contests with a dismissive, almost patronizing kind of stare. "Or are you just along for the group songs and free coffee?" The Shadow Lord folds his arms over his chest, thoroughly unimpressed by the girl's nervousness.
Stacey also crosses her arms. "Yeah, I thought the point was to /stay/ there, so they couldn't knock the trees down and shit like that." She then nudges Kenneth. "She's young, though. Probably her first protest. ...Do they really serve coffee?"
Maybe Coriander would have walked away, her few steps in that direction certainly seem to lean that way, but Kenneth's words, and then Stacey's, bring her attention back over to them. "It is certainly /not/ my first protest. And /no/ there is no /coffee/." Looking over toward Kenneth, she puts her hands on her hips, "And pardon me for not realizing I was on trial here. See this forest? See this tree, this earth? Nature provides for /all/ her creatures, you think those developers care what happens to the beasts that feed here? The birds that nest here? The plants that grow, the insects who crawl? No. They don't. And what happens to those animals when they're run out of their /home/? Do you know? Do /you/ even /care/?" Back to Stacey. "The point is to stay, but if someone starts making us looks like trouble, real trouble, then they take a break, see?"
Tensing at the challenging tone, Kenneth growls back. "I know plenty more than you'll ever about this forest. As for trials, you obviously have no idea that that's exactly what you're doing right now. Putting yourself on trial. Every protest out there does jack without a legal backer. You think corporate's going to give a damn about a handful of hippies?"
Stacey also seems to tense at the tone, her brows furrowing at the question. "I may be younger than you, but I know the way of this land better than ya could dream to. You have no idea how much that sight pains us. You think you care about this land? Do you hear her song? Feel her pain? Just how far are you willing to /go/ for her? Far enough to sit in a circle until the police chase you off? Would you fight? Would you bleed? Die?" She snorts in disgust. "Half-assed attempt so that you can pat yourself on the back later, saying you did what you could, despite there bein' a new apartment building where the ancient oak stood."
"So, because we can't afford a /lawyer/, we don't have a /voice/?" Coriander opens her mouth to continue, but pauses, taking a silent moment after Stacey speaks. "I..." She looks down at her hands, over to a nearby tree, at the ground, pointedly not at the other two. "I never... I don't pat my... I don't know."
Kenneth lets out a brief huff of frustration, but his words cut short with Stacey's retort. He frowns too, a hand lifting to rub a knuckle beneath his nose in thought. He gives the ahroun a short look, almost in early warning.
Stacey lets out her own frustrated breath, although she notes the look from Kenneth, backing up a step. "All I'm sayin' is that you can't succeed in a cause if you don't know why it's a cause worth followin', if you can't back it up. Ya gotta know /why/ you're out there in order to show them you're right. Otherwise, you're just another who hopped on a bandwagon that seemed fun. That or 'cause someone told ya to. Neither of which are reasons that'll get ya anywhere."
"I know what I believe in is important! And if you guys can't see that... well, then forget you guys!" However anger colors her tone, shame and embarrassment color her expression. Coriander turns away from them at this point, picking a direction at random to run away in. Deeper into the woods, as fate would have it.
Kenneth watches the girl take off deeper into the woods, not exactly chastised by her outburst. He does, though, narrow his eyes anyway. "A little harsh, Stace? She's only human."
Stacey lifts her brows as the girl takes off. "Harsh? It's humans that do this. Maybe those words will stick with her enough to help her make more of a difference in the future." Nevertheless, either feeling slightly bad for hurting her feelings or not wanting the girl to wander too far into areas that are better left... to Garou.
Coriander disappears into the trees in short order, running with a care for neither branch nor twig. This run turns out to be very different from any run she's been on before. As she runs along, her form grows taller, bulkier, her arms and legs change shape, falling forward onto all fours to attempt to keep up her run. The pair she left behind hear her howl, and it cutting off as she stumbles and lands in a heap on the forest floor.
Kenneth gives the ahroun a shrug in answer, once more assuming a side on the Gaian's left as they track down the girl. "Might be humans that do it, but we are letting them continue, every day we don't do something about it," he notes. Just after, the strangled howl that goes up sends signals like electric up and down the philodox. He quickly looks to Stacey, and in the direction his human ears could hone in on. "You don't think..."
Stacey halts at the sound of the howl, the unfamiliar voice, returning Kenneth's look. "The hell are the odds?" Not waiting to speculate further, Stacey breaks out into a run, heading toward the source of the howl, while also keeping an eye out for the human girl.
No human girl here, although the pair do come across a large wolf struggling to regain its footing. Its ears laid back, tail tucks between its legs, and shaking from muzzle to tail, it does seem to be having a difficult time doing so.
It's admittedly hard to track in woodwork, but Kenneth need not look too hard. The haphazard run of the girl leaves its evidence all along the broken trail. Still, to be certain, in the running process he makes a smooth and almost instant change from human to wolf. Then when the world comes alive to the Shadow Lord's keener senses, he stretches out his stride to a longer lope. Despite this, he keeps pace with Stacey, never moving on too far ahead that she can't catch up in a matter of moments. When the pair come upon the cub caught in her own ragged clothes, torn during the Firsting, he slows to a stop and looks on with some alarm and surprise in his expression.
Stacey also slows once they come within view of the frightened cub, blinking at the torn clothes. "Dibs," she says lightly, aside to Kenneth, then steps forward, spreading her hands to show she isn't a threat, calling upon the gift of her breed as she speaks next. "Shhh, it's okay. We're friends. You're safe," she attempts to persuade the cub into calming. "It's alright."
The cub doesn't run again at their approach, indeed, she couldn't even if she wanted to. Her cowered stance, however, doesn't change, even the shaking remains. That is, until Stacey speaks. She does seems to calm, to come under control, but then she tries to step out on the remains of her clothes. Wrapped up in them, she tries shaking them off each paw, then turns to Stacey and lets out a high pitched whine, flopping onto the ground.
Far-Cry's ears nearly form a straight plane on either side of his head at the ahroun towards the call on the cub. A snort issues out of the halfmoon, and though he looks displeased, it isn't directed at the cub this time. He starts to approach her, black jaws parting to lightly drag a couple of the shreds of clothing off and away. Clean up duty already.
Stacey only gives a light shrug to Kenneth's displeasure, before she also steps closer to help untangle the cub from the clothes. "It seems that you've been chosen to do far more for Gaia than we realized before. I'm Stacey," she offers, still with that soothing, persuasive tone.
The whines continue from Coriander while the other two help her get free. Once her legs are, in fact, freed, she tries to stand up again, and succeeds, after a try or two, to stay up on four legs. Even if she seems rather unstable. Her ears droop as she listens to Stacey, but she /is/ listening.
With another flick of his ears, the Shadow Lord tugs the torn shirt off the flopped cub and spits it to a side, tongue licking out at the dryness of the material. Give her a moment's peace, he suggests belatedly as he sits his rump down to the dirt beneath, To take it all in. After all, the cub's lupine senses must be going into overload. Cloth pinned under paw, the halfmoon sniffs out the 'news' from the former human girl's scent, like from everything she's recently eaten to the kind of shampoo and soap she used last week.
Stacey backs away at the Shadow Lord's suggestion, nodding and giving the cub some time to adjust. It doesn't last /too/ long, though, as soon Stacey speaks up again with a small smile. "Probably want to be yourself again, huh? Just try to... remember how you were before, how it felt. Picture your limbs changing once more into human hands and feet, reach for that form." Her gaze again slides toward Kenneth, considering. "You wouldn't happen to have a jacket or anything, would you?"
Coriander does take that moment, reminding herself to take in breaths, but looks back to Stacey at her words. What she describes isn't all that different from the meditation she is so familiar with. The cubs eyes close, to better visualize her human self, the desire to /be/ in that form not difficult to conjure. It isn't too long before the change starts, her limbs shortening, her fur disappearing, and a human girl appearing on the forest floor. Once more, she has to remind herself to breath, before looking back over at the others, surprise and bafflement more apparent than fear. "So, it's all true? It wasn't just the result of a really bad experience with drugs in the sixties?"
Far-Cry replies to the Child ahroun with a flick of his tail. I always keep something around for random cubs, he states. Unfortunately, the lupus form can't convey sarcasm, nor irony. In its place, he too demonstrates the marvel and possibly still terrifying transformation of shifting back to breed form. The only difference is Kenneth appears fully clothed as he had before, the same clothes on, not a seam out of place. "It's genetic," he answers with a sort of black humor. Though without a jacket, the Shadow Lord does shed his outer layer of button down, off-white shirt, keeping on the undershirt beneath. The former he offers towards the naked girl. To Stacey he says one other word in commentary. "Dibs?"
Stacey grins over at Far-Cry at the comment regarding random cubs, then returns her attention to Cori. "I hesitate to say it's /all/ true until I know just what you were told, but generally, yes, we're werewolves, and no, it's not the result of drugs. What's your name?" To Kenneth's last commentary, Stace's grin just momentarily returns, although she doesn't shift her attention from the cub.
Taking the shirt with a nod of thanks, Coriander busies herself with slipping it on. Less bothered by her own nudity than most, though, she doesn't seem terribly embarrassed to be in such a state in front of strangers. "Coriander Hayes. My father... he told me we were supposed to lend our help and support to the 'Garou' if they called for it... I though he was just... I mean, I didn't think he was /lying/..."
Kenneth arches his brows, latching onto the keyword 'lying'. His expression starts back towards a frown, but doesn't quite make it once he turns his gaze away towards the surrounding woods. Silence follows on his part until he does ask one question. "They named you 'Coriander'?"
Stacey lifts her brows. "Your father told you a bit about us, huh? Wonder if he knew what you were or just thought you kin. We're the Garou, Gaia's warriors. My tribe is the Children of Gaia," she says, placing a hand on her chest, and then she nods toward Kenneth. "And he's a Shadow Lord. The different tribes have different purposes, aiding our fight to heal the earth in different ways." Putting it all very simply, but the gist is there.
Coriander looks over at Kenneth, "Yeah, Coriander. It's from the Earth, you know." She points a finger over at Stacey, "Children of Gaia, I've heard that before. And he said we were kin, not that I was a... that I'd be..." A glance is spared for her shredded clothing. "You know."
"What she doesn't tell you is the stigma that comes from being one tribe or the other," Kenneth says by way of additional notation. "Lucky you, not having a Kinfetch to tell us what tribe you belong too. But with a name like Coriander," the Shadow Lord continues, eventually trailing and looking pointedly at Stacey for a long second, "Anyway, you seem bright enough. Where're your parents now? If they're Kinfolk, then we ought to let them know you're with us."
Stacey tilts her head. "You've heard of us? I can't say I'm completely surprised to hear that." She shrugs off the talk of stigmas. "She'll find out who's what soon enough. He's right, though, we should contact them. And perhaps they can confirm what we suspect tribe-wise."
"Larry's back with the protest. And probably wondering why I've been gone so long." Coriander looks one way... and then the other, clearly uncertain as to where she even is right now. "Don't ask about my mother, though, never met her. Miss Starshine says she took off shortly after I was born."
"'Miss Starshine'?" echoes Kenneth, his tone carrying his idea of how ridiculous the names sound. "So your father's back there." A glance is sent towards Stacey again. "There'd be too many questions if we brought her back that way. Farmhouse's standard, but you'd have to deal with her being a Lost Cub." The latter is said with mild emphasis on the weight of that status. Still, the halfmoon adds, "You did call dibs."
"I did," Stacey affirms as she crosses her arms. "And anyone who questions that and why can take it up with me." She looks back toward the girl. "We have a safe place we'll take you to, a Farmhouse. Is there a phone number or some other way we can reach your father later?"
"Yeah, she used to be a school teacher, but decided to be a bad, starving artist instead." As an explanation for Miss Starshine. Coriander looks over at Stacey, "A phone? No, we don't even have electricity at the commune. Everyone's moving along after the protest." And then, back to Kenneth, "Lost Cub?"
Kenneth nods back at Coriander, bare arms folding over his narrow chest. "Basically, you're new and you don't have a tribe officially. There wasn't a spiritual brand to let us know you were a Garou and what path you've been chosen for. Like I said before: Lucky you." He looks back to Stacey afterwards, tilting his head in a direction towards the farmhouse. "They probably got some websi--" The mention of no electricity makes the halfmoon pause and flick his gaze back at Cori. "The hell kind of non-profit are you guys running?"
Stacey smirks at Kenneth. "I think I'm going to have to do this the old-fashioned way: Taking a hike the commune an talking things over with Larry, before the cops get involved." She then looks back to Cori, smiling once again. "You're Garou now, which means you'll be staying with us, learning from us, until you're prepared to be considered an adult, a full Garou, among us."
"It's a commune for artists, mostly. We sell some of what we make to get money to buy what we need, or just trade stuff. Live off the land. The Earth provides, you know." Coriander looks back over at Stacey, with some degree of alarm, "Wait, without Larry?"
Kenneth ends up shaking his head in disapproval at the whole idea, uttering a nearly inaudible comment of "New Age hippies," but then he resumes his relatively neutral expression. "Without Larry," he supplies, "as the way we live is no life for a Kinfolk. You'll soon learn there's a difference between how humans want to save the earth, and how Garou want to save Gaia, the Earth Mother."
Stacey nods her agreement to Kenneth's words. "Our Rage will not allow us to live completely along side other humans. It's our gift, but also our curse. You must have felt it... And as he says, we have our own Ways. You will learn what it truly means to live in harmony with Gaia."
Coriander looks back and forth between them, taking it in, processing as much as she can understand at this point. "Will I get to say goodbye?" Other than this simple question, she seems to believe what they say and accept it.
Kenneth casts a small glance at Stacey before looking back to Coriander with a distinctly less irritated look. One might even muse there was a flicker of sympathy as the halfmoon's eyes quickly drift away. "If he's a Kinfolk, you won't have to lose touch completely. But I wouldn't recommend popping out of the woods to say goodbye in just a guy's dirty shirt."
Stacey offers a gentle, sympathetic smile. "I will do some investigating. If he's kin and clean, then in time, you'll be able to see him again. For now, no goodbyes. As Kenneth says, it'd cause too many questions, which we don't need. The world at large isn't ready to accept us, if they ever will be."
Coriander does take a moment to look down at herself, then back up at the other Garou, "Yeah, it wouldn't make for good press, showing up like this." She looks between Kenneth and Stacey, not looking terribly reassured with vague promises of future meetings. "Larry always said I shouldn't be afraid of where life takes me. You'll get word to him?" The last directed at Stacey.
Kenneth clears his throat then, hand running through his hair. He doesn't answer as the question is posed towards Stacey, but his silence tells of quiet support for the ahroun's reply, no matter what it is. "Better be prepared," he then intones, "because there's no climbing out of the rabbit hole after this step."
Stacey offers a reassuring smile and nods. "My word as Elder, I will get word to Larry, even if I must do it myself to make sure it happens." She glances toward Kenneth, letting out a faint sigh. "There's no climbing out the moment we First. You must have questions," she adds, looking back toward Coriander. "We can answer some as we make our way toward the Farmhouse."
There is a shifting of Coriander's expression at Kenneth's words, anxiety surfacing at the rather ominous warning. She can only nod to them, at first, taking a few shaky steps toward Stacey. "I... wouldn't know where to start..."
"The beginning's always a good place to," Kenneth quips as he takes the lead to forge a path towards the Garou's resident cub sanctuary. "How 'bout, how old are you? When's your birthday? Did you ever smack Larry for naming you after seasoning?"
Stacey offers an arm to Coriander, to give her a bit of stability. "Both good questions, your age and birthday." The third, though, gains Kenneth a playful swat from the Elder, not that she actually hits him, though. "The phase of the moon on the night of your birth determines your auspice, which further defines your role in our Nation. I'm a Full Moon, an Ahroun, which means I'm more of a warrior than others." Probably hard to believe at the moment, though.
Coriander takes the offered arm, thankful for the stability. Rattling off the easy list of statistics about herself. It's even a comfort, falling into the familiar information. Although Kenneth's last question gets a confused head tilt. Until Stacey starts explaining, they /she/ gets the confused head tilt. "Full Moon. Got it."
Kenneth easily sidesteps the swat, lips turning up at the corners in a smirk. It's a shortlived expression, as he listens to Coriander's replies. "I'm a Philodox. A Garou born on the night of a half moon," he puts in. "Halfmoons are the Garou best suited to be judges, arbitrators, enforcers of the laws of our kind and keepers of our traditions. In other words, we're usually the Department of Internal Affairs."
Stacey files away the birthdate mentally, so that she can look it up later, and continues leading the girl through the woods. "Kenneth here may not be of our tribe, but he has full permission to teach any cub of mine, meaning he's one you can go to if you have any questions and I or the rest of the tribe aren't around." She smiles at Kenneth briefly before looking back at Cori and chuckling. "He's about the only Shadow Lord that has that permission, though. As for auspices, there are five in all. You'll learn all about that in time."
Nodding to the flow of information, just a bit too overwhelmed to really have it all sink in. "Other than Kenneth, will I only be going to other Children of Gaia? Is there anyone I /shouldn't/ go to?" She seems to regain her sealegs, so to speak, as they walk along. She doesn't even seem to mind being barefoot, no matter how many twigs she steps on.
Kenneth doesn't stop walking his established steady pace. Not even with the honor of Stacey's permission granting to teach does the Shadow Lord say a thing to acknowledge it. At the cub's questions, though, he does slow to a stop and turns. There he pauses with a steady stare at the newest cub, his dark eyed gaze all sorts of evaluating. "Don't believe every Garou you meet to mean you good will. Not every werewolf is on the same side these days." A pointed look directs at the Child ahroun, and then the philodox resumes his walking.
Stacey meets Kenneth's gaze at that pointed look, her expression dimming at that reminder of the dark times. "When is every werewolf on the same side? Still, there is some fortune in our finding you. Our tribe is still respected by all. For now, save the tougher questions to those I approve. Little things, you can ask of who is around, as long as you /know/ them to be Garou. A little curiosity is a virtue for a Child. We are mediators, healers. It helps to know how the other tribes think."
Coriander's eyebrows lift as she looks at Kenneth, "These days?" She nods to Stacey, though, "Secrecy, I get it. Wouldn't want to see the riot a bunch of werewolves would cause. Mediators? So we have to keep everybody from fighting? And will that," she asks with a wave of her hand back toward the site of her shifting, "happen a lot? Can it stop happening? And I don't know much about medicine, I don't have to go to med school, do I? Larry says doctors don't really care, they just try to milk as much money from people as possible."
A snort out of Kenneth shows his bit of commentary towards the cub's questions. His statement is directed at Stacey though. "I'm pretty sure Stace here in just a few years time knows more about the insides of a body and how to put them back in, or take them out, more than any field surgeon's going to in a lifetime of operations. And I won't lie. Yes. There is plenty of friendly fire."
Stacey places a reassuring hand on Coriander's arm. "There have been recent divisions within the Sept, but nothing that has not been faced before. Our tribe exists for these times, to make peace, to mend broken bridges. Or build new ones if the old have been burned." She looks toward Kenneth with a smirk, then dips her head in a nod. "Many members of our tribe have a gift that gives us the ability to heal. You may learn that someday. But there's more than just the body that needs healing at times. The mind and spirit can also falter in a darkened world."
Stepping away from Stacey at that 'take them out' revelation, Coriander scoots a little closer to Kenneth. However, she looks up at him, and steps over to take Stacey's arm again. "Friendly fire," she repeats to herself, as if she didn't hear it right the first time. "Gift?"
Kenneth's gaze travels coldly over the cub as she comes closer, following as she retreats back. No comment made there. "Gifts. Power and knowledge given to us by the spirits. If you didn't believe in magic before, you best start doing so now. After all, your world up until ten minutes ago didn't have werewolves in it, and now it does. Imagine the other possibilities." He keeps walking along, though, hands slipping into his pockets. "But only those who prove themselves worthy can use those powers." He pauses another beat before tacking on, "It's simple, but it's complicated," to the end of that.
Because the little Ahroun is safer to cling to. Stacey smiles patiently at the girl, letting her take her arm again. "As for friendly fire... I spoke before about Rage. Every Garou has it, to one degree or another. It allows us to fight faster, stronger, but it also makes it harder for those with more of it to maintain control. A nation of warriors... Fights and challenges happen. You'll learn the difference between a fight that needs to be stopped and those that should happen."
"I can believe in magic," Coriander states, possibly to convince herself. "How do you... prove yourself? And doesn't everyone have rage? I mean, that's a common human emotion." She reaches up to run a hand through her hair, letting out a heavy, long breath. "I could use a smoke." And from what Kenneth smelled of her earlier, she doesn't mean cigarettes.
Kenneth shakes his head with a rolling of his shoulders at the smokes comment, skipping over it as he explains, "Rage is different from what humans call their moments of anger. It's real different. This kind of Rage isn't the kind for wusses. The rage of werewolves comes from somewhere deep down inside, from a hate so strong, it's enough to make you want to kill. Even the most passive Garou you meet knows how it feels, like a hot coal right in your gut. You had a taste of it, going through your First Change. That feeling you had when things got hazy and all you had left was this urge to scream until your throat was raw? That was Rage. And it's every Garou's inner war to try and not let that take them over."
Since Kenneth so thoroughly explained Rage, Stacey moves on to the other question. "Once you have learned enough: Our laws, how to be a Garou, how to fight, about the tribes, you will be tested in what's called a 'Rite of Passage'. It is then, when you pass that, that you will be a true member of the Tribe and Nation."
Coriander falls silent again, nodding at Kenneth's words while looking down at her feet. "Do they win?" She tilts her head to look up at Kenneth. Her attention flips over to Stacey, though, and she shakes her head, "So much. How does anyone ever remember it all?"
Kenneth tenses up a level, as if in involuntary demonstration of the fight he describes. "You can, if you will it so. The battle is never easy. As for how anyone remembers... it'll just come naturally, or it won't. You'll either learn it, or you won't. That's what a rite of passage is, seeing that you either have it, or you don't. But at least you know we aren't going to throw you to the wolves... at least, not yet." He smiles in that mildly creepy, cold sense of the expression before breaking through to a mild clearing - one of more on the way to the farmhouse.
The good cop, on the other hand, offers a reassuring smile. "I would not send a cub on their Rite unless I believed them ready." Stacey glances over at Kenneth, nodding her confirmation to his words before continuing, "I'm not saying that it will be easy, but we will make sure to prepare you as much as possible. And as for remembering... Repetition, for one."
Coriander slows her pace to a halt at that look from Kenneth, eyes a little wider, absentmindedly nodding to Stacey. However, when she leans over to whisper in the other girl's ear, it has nothing to do with what the Elder just said. "He's scary."
Bad Cop Kenneth either doesn't hear the whisper or doesn't acknowledge it, pressing on through the ever darkening forest that grows in shadows. And it isn't long before the halfmoon breaks another treeline, only to reveal the large fields of the farmhouse. Off in the distance is the pair of buildings, and he points casually towards them. "There it is. Finally I'll be getting my shirt back."
Stacey can't help but smirk at the whisper, leaning toward the other girl to whisper back with a feral grin, "No more than I." She looks toward the Farmhouse as it comes into sight and smiles. "This'll be your home for the next few months. There are places to sleep in the attic or the barn. And you're welcome to what food there is in the kitchen. It's kept well-stocked."
Not really sure how to take that comment, Coriander stands there for a moment, mouth hanging wide open. But whe both her guides have gotten ahead of her, she hops to, catching up to them to peer over at the buildings. "Hey, it's not just tents and stuff. I'm starving, you guys have veggieburgers?"
"There's electricity," Kenneth notes, "which I hope you're familiar with." Ok, it was a smart ass remark, but there's some comfort in the statement that seems like he means well. The Shadow Lord actually tries to crack a joke every once in a while. The vegetarian tastes also seem to catch him offguard, though, just long enough that the recovery comes on the tail end of amusement. Bleak amusement. The low chuckle directs towards Stacey. "We'll... find something for you, while you get cleaned up and pick out some other clothes."
Stacey is also caught off-guard by the mention of veggieburgers, and looks over at Kenneth with a bemused look before she shrugs. "We'll see what we can find. There's extra clothes up in the attic. You're free to choose what you'd like from among that, and then we can dedicate them to you. So that... they'll change with you."
Coriander pauses and blinks at Kenneth's electricity comment before sticking her tongue out at him. Then she looks back and forth between them, "What? don't like what I have on now?" And she even keeps a straight face, for a moment before smirking. "Not ending up naked in the woods, with no clothes on, everytime that happens would be nice."
"You'll have to deal without shoes, maybe," Kenneth muses as he looks the cub up and down. The stuck out tongue just gets a reply of a smirk out of the Shadow Lord. "Though you won't have a problem with that, Tenderfoot. C'mon." And again leading the way, Kenneth makes for the farmhouse's sliding doors with the two girls, actually pushing it open and waiting for them to enter before doing so himself.
Stacey chuckles at the two, shaking her head as she leads the girl inside. "Tenderfoot, huh?" she repeats. "Saves me having to think up another cubname." And with that, the Elder, directs Cori to the attic and clothes before preparing a vegetarian meal.
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